Declares Jan. 16 as ‘National Startup Day’

New Delhi: The country will celebrate January 16 as National Startup Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a virtual gathering of over 150 entrepreneurs yesterday as he termed startups as the “backbone” of new India and the engine that will power the nation’s economic growth in the run up to the 100th year of Independence.

The current decade, Modi said, is being referred to as the “techade” of India and his Government will usher in massive changes to strengthen innovation, entrepreneurship and the startup ecosystem.

“The first is to liberate entrepreneurship and innovation from the web of Government processes, bureaucratic silos. Second, is creating an institutional mechanism to promote innovation. And third, is handholding young innovators and young enterprises,” the Prime Minister said at the event, a part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Pointing out that the number of startups in India had grown to over 60,000 from less than 500 just five years ago, Modi said these ventures are working across nearly 55 industry sectors and are “changing the rules of the game.”

“I believe the golden era of India’s startups is starting now,”  the PM said as the country is “rapidly moving towards hitting a century of unicorns,” which are the hallmark of self-reliant and self-confident India.

Noting that 42 unicorns —startups valued at over $ 1 billion — came up in India last year, the PM said this is stoking an exponential rise in innovation. In 2021, India granted 28,000 patents compared to 4,000 in 2013-14, while 2.5 lakh trademarks were registered in 2020-21 compared to 70,000 in 2013-14, a Govt. statement revealed.

Meanwhile, the country’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index has moved to 46 from 81.

Unicorns and startups are messengers of India’s diversity, a keystone of the country’s global identity, according to Modi who exhorted startup founders to not “keep your dreams local, make them global. Remember this mantra — let’s Innovate for India, innovate from India.”